A number of surgical, laparoscopic and endoscopic procedures require application of rotary tacks to tissues, such as for hernia repairs and the like.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/166,329 (published number 2010/0001038) to Levin and Altman, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a tacker for applying such rotary tacks. The tacker includes a drive shaft coupled to a trigger. Operating the trigger causes rotation of the drive shaft. A magazine holds a rotary tack rotatingly connected to the drive shaft. An articulated applicator arm includes a rotatable output shaft and is rotatingly connected to the magazine, which is proximal to the articulated applicator arm. The articulated applicator arm includes one or more pivoting links, each pivoting link including a link shaft. Operation of the trigger causes the driver shaft and the link shafts to rotate so as to distally advance the rotary tack from the magazine past the pivoting links.
Reference is made to FIGS. 1 and 2, which illustrate the articulated applicator arm 40 and tack magazine 41 of the prior art U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/166,329 (based on FIGS. 4 and 4A of that application). Tack magazine 41 holds rotary tacks 42. Magazine 41 includes a housing 43 in which a drive shaft 44 is journaled. Drive shaft 44 is connected at a proximal end thereof with a drive assembly (not shown), which connects to a trigger assembly (not shown). Upon operation of the trigger assembly, the drive assembly turns drive shaft 44 about its longitudinal axis.
Tack magazine 41 includes a threaded tube 46 disposed at a distal end of driver shaft 44. Tacks 42 are stored in magazine 41 with the coils of tacks 42 being received in the threads of threaded tube 46. Any number of tacks 42 can be stored in magazine 41, such as a dozen or more.
Articulated applicator arm 40 includes pivoting links 47 pivotally connected to one another in series. A housing 52 of each pivoting link 47 includes a link shaft 48 with proximal and distal pivot connections (e.g., pinned connections). For example, the pivoting link 47 closest to tack magazine 41 is pivotally connected to magazine 41 at a pivot connection 49. The next most distal pivoting link 47 is pivotally connected to the previous pivoting link 47 at a pivot connection 50. By means of the pinned connection, when driver shaft 44 turns all the pivoting links 47 turn as well about their respective longitudinal axes.
Each pivoting link 47 includes a threaded tube 51, similar to threaded tube 46, and tacks 42 advance through the pivoting links 47 by means of the coils of tacks 42 being screwed along the threads of adjacent pivoting links 47. The adjacent pivoting links 47 can pivot through an angular range before their adjacent end faces abut against each other to prevent further angular pivoting.
The housing 52 of each pivoting link 47 and the housing 43 of magazine 41 may be formed with a pair of diametrically opposing bores 53 in which pull cables 118 and 126 are disposed. The pull cables 118 and 126 are attached to a trigger assembly (not shown) and are used to manipulate articulated applicator arm 40.
In operation, the user pulls a trigger or other actuating device to cause driver shaft 44 and all the pivoting links 47 to rotate. This distally advances the tacks 42, one-by-one, from magazine 41 through and past each pivoting link 47 until the tack 42 is advanced off the most distal pivoting link 47 and screws into tissue (not shown). The pull cables 118 and 126 are manipulated by the operator of the trigger assembly to pivot articulated applicator arm 40 to any desired angle. Articulated applicator arm 40 can thus be used at a variety of angles, even a straight orientation.